Friday, September 23, 2016

Bruce Springsteen held a book signing meet-and-greet at the Barnes & Noble in Freehold, N.J., on Sept. 27 for his new book Born to Run. Thousands of fans flocked to the location for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet the Boss and have their newly purchased book signed, which also guaranteed a spot in line for a selfie with the rock legend. Two-thousand tickets were sold through Eventbrite.com, but hundreds more showed up in the parking lot hoping for a picture and a glimpse of the hometown hero. "Hey, everybody! Let's get this started!," said Springsteen, who showed up around 10:20 a.m. dressed all in black with a leather jacket and motorcycle boots. The crowd then broke into an impromptu rendition of "Happy Birthday," as Springsteen, who turned 67 on Sept. 23, settled in for a marathon 5-hour book signing session -- one hour longer than his record four-hour concert. Springsteen's book tour continues at the Union Square Barnes & Noble on Sept. 28 in New York and at the Apple Store in SoHo. Meanwhile, in a new Rolling Stone interview, Springsteen branded Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as a "moron" who has the United States of America "under siege." Asked what he thinks about Trump's meteoric rise in the world of American politics, Springsteen said: "Well, you know, the republic is under siege by a moron, basically. The whole thing is tragic. Without overstating it, it's a tragedy for our democracy... The ideas he's moving to the mainstream are all very dangerous ideas -- white nationalism and the alt-right movement." The musician went on to endorse Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, saying: "I like Hillary. I think she would be a very, very good president." - Billboard/New Musical Express, 9/27/16...... Speaking to The Mirror paper on Sept. 26, Don Henley said the Eagles could fly again following Glenn Frey's untimely death in March -- if Frey's son, 22-year-old Deacon Frey -- joins the group. "At some point in the future, we might work our way round to [reuniting]," the Eagles co-founder said. "You know, Glenn has a son who can sing and play quite well. And one of the only things that would make sense to me is if it were his son," Henley added. Deacon Frey often joined his dad onstage before Glenn's death. Henley still performs songs during his solo concerts that were written with Frey, such as "Desperado," but out of respect for Glenn, Don says he doesn't do songs that Frey sang lead vocals on. "I don't think that would be quite right, even if I co-wrote them. I'm just not doing it," he said. If the Eagles should reunite with Deacon Frey, Henley also raised the possibility of longtime band friend Jackson Browne, who jammed with the band during the Glenn Frey tribute at the Grammys in February, also performing with them. "With Jackson, of course, we could do 'Take It Easy' and a couple other things," said Henley, "but the only way I would consider any kind of reunion, I think, would be with Glenn's son, Deacon," he said. Meanwhile, a life-size bronse statue of Frey has been installed in the "Standing on the Corner" Park in Winslow, Ariz., alongside a previously installed statue that many feel looks like Jackson Browne. Two morning radio personalities from Phoenix classic rock station KSLX -- Mark Devine and Paul "NeanderPaul" Marshall -- helped fund the $22,000 Frey statue, along with the Standing on the Corner Foundation and the City of Winslow. The unveiling took place during Winslow's annual "Standing on the Corner" music festival on the fourth weekend of September. "We thought a statue would be a great way to pay tribute to his everlasting impact on Arizona's history," said Marshall. Browne and Frey co-wrote the Eagles' song "Take It Easy" in 1972 that included the lyric "standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona." Shops around the Winslow park display Eagles tour posters and sell T-shirts, magnets and mugs depicting the hit song and its lyrics. - Billboard/AP, 9/27/16...... Speaking of the Eagles, Joe Walsh has just written and recorded a new song called "No Man's Land" about issues facing American military veterans of the current conflicts in the Middle East. "This is really a forgotten war over there," Walsh says. "There's not political candidate that has touched what we're doing over there. Nobody. It's not even talked about and it's not even in the media. Nowhere can you get a report on what's been going on or progress or even deaths or injuries or anything, and that's just not OK with me. And these guys are coming home either missing arms or legs or just completely shattered, mentally. And I see homeless vets and I go, 'That's not OK'." "No Man's Land" was recorded for a new documetary entitled Citizen Soldier, tells the story of the Oklahoma National Guard 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team -- aka The Thunderbirds -- who were deployed to Afghanistan during the latest surge. Walsh was introduced to the film by one of its co-directors, Christian Tureud, and immediately volunteered to write "No Man's Land" after viewing some of the footage. "So that's what I wrote the song about -- 'We're out here in nowhere land, and the only way home is my brothers and my god and me," Walsh notes. "And the people that we're fighting have a God, and our Gods don't agree.' I just wanted to tell their story the way I saw it in the film." - Billboard, 9/26/16...... Fleetwood Mac vocalist/keyboardist Christine McVie has confirmed that Fleetwood Mac are working on a new album, and the band has already recorded seven tracks for it. "We cut seven songs in the studio already for the start of a brand-new studio album, which we did probably nearer two years ago," McVie told Rolling Stone. "We shelved that temporarily and then went on the road and did the tour. And now, actually, I think we're going back in, in October to try to finish it off. Stevie (Nicks) hasn't participated yet, but hope springs eternal. She's going on a solo tour at the moment." McVie added that she and Lindsey Buckingham have plenty of songs and there are "tons more in the bag that we have yet to record." "And they're fantastic," McVie adds. "So we're going to carry on and try to finish the record. And then maybe if Stevie doesn't want to be part of that then we can go out and just do some smaller concerts." Nicks has left the future of her participation in Fleetwood Mac uncertain, saying "It's like, do you want to take a chance of going in and setting up in a room for like a year [to record an album] and having a bunch of arguing people? And then not wanting to go on tour because you just spent a year arguing?" Fleetwood Mac's last studio album was 2003's Say You Will. Meanwhile, the band has just reissued its 1982 album, Mirage. which includes a three-CD and DVD set with a disc of B-sides, as well as a live collection culled from two nights at the LA Forum in Oct. 1982. - New Musical Express/Rolling Stone, 9/26/16...... Stevie Wonder is the latest celebrity to featured in PBS's animated Blank on Blank interview series. An animated Wonder discusess his childhood, his experience with racism, and his faith on the program installment that premiered on Sept. 27, just one day prior to the 40th anniversary release of his epic 18th studio album, Songs in the Keys of Life. Wonder says that after he grew up in a Pentecostal church, his decision to sing "worldy" music saw much criticism from his church members, but it wasn't enough to stop him from pursing his dreams. "If God didn't want me to sing it, he wouldn't have given me the talent to do it," he said. - Billboard, 9/27/16...... The Rolling Stones have announced they'll release Havana Moon, a concert of their 2016 show in Cuba, on CD, DVD and Blu-Ray on Nov. 11. A three LP vinyl set is also being released as is a special deluxe edition. Havana Moon was recently screened in cinemas for one night only, and is the band's official document of their historic outdoor Cuba show, which saw them perform to over 1.2 million fans in the Cuban capital, a place where rock concerts by foreign bands have long been prohibited. Havana Moon was directed by Paul Dugdale, who has previously made concert films for Adele and Coldplay. "The Cuba show was simply amazing," frontman Mick Jagger said as he announced the film earlier in the year. "It was an incredible moment; a huge sea of people for as far as the eye could see. You could feel the buzz of the enthusiasm from the crowd and that was for me the stand-out moment," he added. - NME, 9/27/16...... Kenny Rogers has told Billboard that he plans on retiring from music in 2017, and has no further plans to record or perform after the conclusion of his current tour. "I've done everything I set out to do," explained the 78-year-old Rogers, who began his music career back in 1958. "Every goal I've set, I've done that, and there's a point where you have to say, 'I've had my turn. Let someone else have it,' and that's kind of where I am. It's not that I dislike music; it's just that I can't keep doing this and do what I want to do, which is spend time with my family." Rogers also said he'd like to spend more time with his 12-year-old twins he has with his fifth wife, Wanda Miller. "My boys are playing football this year, and we went to watch a game and they were so excited about us being there, and that's the kind of thing that as a parent you want to be part of as much as you can," he said. Roger's now-farewell tour will conclude on Apr. 8, 2017 in Danville, Kentucky. He'll visit the UK and Ireland for the last time in November, including two dates at the London Palladium. - New Musical Express, 9/27/16...... Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone magazine, has announced he's selling a 49% stake in the magazine to BandLab, a digital music company owned by the son of Asian billionaire Kuok Khoon Hong. BandLab will run a new, Singapore-based international subsidiary that will focus on developing live events as well as looks for merchandising and hospitality opportunities in Asia. It will have no say in editorial content. Wenner's son and Rolling Stone digital manager, Gus Wenner, says they are hoping to take the Rolling Stone brand into "new and different areas and markets." "Long-term, my dad and myself recognize that in order to truly grow and truly transform the business," he said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. - The Hollywood Reporter/Bloomberg News, 9/25/16...... Paul Simon was among the headliners for the "Global Citizen: The World On Stage" charity event at Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 22 in New York City. Simon also presented the inaugural George Harrison Global Citizen award to Olivia and Dhani Harrison (George's widow and son, respectively). Also performing were such artists as Kesha, Tom Morello, Warren Haynes and Regina Spektor, among others. Several speakers also addressed various causes in dire need of help and support -- such as the refugee crisis, education, poverty, hunger, and gender equality. - Billboard, 9/23/16...... Newly interviewed on the Australian version of the TV newsmagazine 60 Minutes,Olivia Newton-John said she's convinced her ex-lover Patrick McDermott is dead after he went missing during a fishing trip, despite reported sightings of him in Mexico. "It was very hard, he was lost at sea and nobody really knows what happened," said Newton-John ."It's human to wonder but, you know, those are the things in life you have to accept and let go. Because whenever you go through difficult times, there's always those concerns. I live on and of course questions come up, always, it's human," she added. Two detectives who attempted to track McDermott down believe he faked his own death to avoid a series of debts. The U.S. Coast Guard declared McDermott had "most likely drowned" when his boat disappeared off the coast of San Pedro, Calif., and Olivia says she chooses to agree with that. Newton-John, 68, dated cameraman McDermott on and off for nine years, following her divorce from Matt Lattanzi in 1995. She finally found love with John Easterling and the couple wed in 2008, three years after McDermott's disappearance. - WENN.com, 9/27/16...... The Beach Boys have announced they'll play two shows in the UK in 2017, at London's Royal Albert Hall on May 18 and 19. The concerts, which will not feature Brian Wilson, are so far the only Beach Boys concerts in the UK scheduled for 2017. The current BB line-up features Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, alongside "supporting musicians" John Cowsill, Tim Bonhomme, Randell Kirsch, Scott Totten and Love's son Christian Love. Al Jardine, a fellow member of the original line-up, left the band in 2012, the same time as Wilson. - NME, 9/27/16...... Kraftwerk have announced they'll kick off an 11-date tour of the UK in the summer of 2017 at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall on June 9. It will mark Kraftwerk's first full tour of Britain since 2004, and feature the band's 3D concerts, which they first played in 2013 at New York's Museum Of Modern Art and have since performed at art galleries around the world. The tour will wrap at London's Royal Albert Hall with two nights on June 21 and 22. - NME, 9/26/16...... Guitarist Joe Bonamassa has added three dates to this April 2017 UK concert tour -- in Edinburgh (4/18), Blackpool (4/22/) and Sheffield (4/24). The shows are in addition to Bonomassa's previously announced concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall on Apr. 20 and 21. Bonamassa's 2017 tour follows hot on the heels of his critically acclaimed "Salute To The British Blues Explosion" tour of 2016 that saw the American guitarist paying homage to the music of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. - Noble PR, 9/26/16...... The Tubes have announced they'll embark on a 12-date UK tour this fall at London's Under the Bridge venue on Oct. 7. The San Francisco-based band's "Mondo Pulp Tour" will also hit such cities as Manchester (10/8), Bristol (10/11), Brighton (10/15), Southhampton (10/16) and Holmfirth (10/21) before wrapping in Glasgow on Oct. 22. "We’re thrilled to be coming back to the country that started it all for us," says the Tubes frontman Fee Waybill. In 1977 The Tubes toured the UK, but many of their shows were banned due to British censorship. - Noble PR, 9/28/16...... Buckwheat Zydeco, an acclaimed accordion player who performed with the likes of Eric Clapton and U2 during an illustrious career in music, died on Sept. 24 from a battle with lung cancer. He was 68. Born Stanley Dural, Jr., the Lousiana-born Zydeco made his name performing with his band, Buckwheat Zydeco and Ils Sont Partis Band (though they later reverted to performing under Zydeco's name). Zydeco was invited by Clapton to open for him on his 1988 North American tour after earning rave reviews for his band's live shows. The year before, they'd signed to Island Records to release their first album on a major label, On A Night Like This. Zydeco released 25 albums across his career, while also collaborating with the likes of U2, Keith Richards and Paul Simon, often in the live arena. "I am grieving for my best friend and colleague of more than 30 years," his manager, Ted Fox, posted on Facebook. "Buck made everything and everyone he touched better and happier. RIP my dear friend, my brother." - NME, 9/26/16...... Arnold Palmer, the telegenic golfer known as the king of the sport and whose immense popularity drew a legion of fans known as "Arnie's Army" and helped propel the game just as television was coming of age, died in Pittsburgh on the morning of Sept. 25. He was 87. Along his way to becoming one of the sport's best players, Mr. Palmer also became a successful businessman, philanthropist, trailblazing advertising spokesman, talented golf course designer and experienced aviator. "We are deeply saddened by the death of Arnold Palmer, golf's greatest ambassador, at age 87," the U.S. Golf Association said in a statement. "Arnold Palmer will always be a champion, in every sense of the word. He inspired generations to love golf by sharing his competitive spirit, displaying sportsmanship, caring for golfers and golf fans, and serving as a lifelong ambassador for the sport. Our stories of him not only fill the pages of golf's history books and the walls of the museum, but also our own personal golf memories. The game is indeed better because of him, and in so many ways, will never be the same." Mr. Palmer also left his stamp on developing some 225 courses throughout the world, and was the first golfer to surpass $1 million in earnings. Mr. Palmer's appeal was so wide that he even gave origin to the "Arnold Palmer," a mixture of iced tea and lemonade that was one of his favorite drinks and is now available in grocery stores. Mr. Palmer was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, and in 2012 he was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal. "The game has given so much to Arnold Palmer, but he has given back so much more," his close friend and fellow golfing legend Jack Nicklaus said. - USA Today, 9/26/16...... Grand Ole Opry star Jean Shepherd, one of country music's most colorful characters and beloved performers, died on Sept. 25 after an extended illness. She was 82. A fixture on the Opry stage for six decades, the Oklahoma-born and California-raised Ms. Shepard was also a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, where she was inducted as a member in 2011. She started her musical career playing in an all-female group called The Melody Ranch Girls, who caught the eyes and ears of Capitol Records superstar Hank Thompson, who helped her sign with the label. Her first single, "Crying Steel Guitar Waltz," failed to chart, but she would soon pair with Ferlin Husky for the million-selling "A Dear John Letter." The record was a hit, topping the charts. Her other hits include "Second Fiddle (To An Old Guitar)," "If Teardrops Were Silver," and "A Tear Dropped By." She made a classic of Bill Anderson's "Slippin' Away" in 1973, and hit the Country Top 40 for the last time with her cover of Anderson's "The Tip of My Fingers" in 1975, peaking at No. 16. Her autobiography, Down Through The Years, was released in 2014, and she marked an amazing six decades as an Opry member in November 2015. - Billboard, 9/25/16.

In an essay on The Huffington Post on Sept. 22, Barbra Streisand pulled no punches about her distaste, and distrust, of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. "When a politician ends almost every sentence with 'believe me'... don't! He's probably lying," Streisand wrote in the essay entitled "Facts Matter." Streisand also quoted PolitiFact.com's 71 percent rating of Trump's comments as "false," "mostly false" or "pants on fire" as proof, she believes, that "the majority of the time that Trump speaks, he is not telling the truth." In her 1,200-word essay, Streisand also asked if facts matter to Trump and if they don't. "This should be profoundly unacceptable to the American people. Our country and its stability is on the line. Facts do matter!" The longtime liberal advocate has also taken to mocking "The Donald" frequently onstage recently, singing a parody of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns" earlier in September at an LGBT fundraiser for Clinton, twisting the lyrics to take swipes at the billionaire real estate mogul. "Is he that rich? Maybe he's poor/ Till he reveals his returns, who can be sure?" she sang to the crowd of 1,000 supporters. - Billboard, 9/22/16...... In related news, Gene Simmons' son Nick Simmons has often demonstrated he's no fan of his father's tendency for making offensive statements, and in a recent interview with TMZ.com the younger Simmons described his dad as the "Donald Trump of rock." "He's the f---ing Donald Trump of rock. I can't take it anymore," Nick said. His statement came after Gene's statement on Sept. 19 that it's "time for America to embrace police profiling as a means to prevent terrorist attacks. - Billboard, 9/20/16...... Bruce Springsteen celebrated his 67th birthday on Sept. 23 with the release of Chapter and Verse, the "audio companion" to Springsteen's upcoming memoir, Born to Run. Before forming the E Street Band, Springsteen ruled Jersey bars with his early bands, the Castiles, Still Mill and the Bruce Springsteen Band. The highlight of Chapter and Verse: the Castiles' "Baby I," a jangly garage-rock kiss-off howled by a 16-year-old Springsteen, who was already showing he had wit to spare ("I got someone new/ Someone better than you," he shouts). The set, compiled by Springsteen, also includes 13 other songs, from a 1972 demo of "Growin' Up" to 2012's "Wrecking Ball." Chapter and Verse is available as a single CD and a double LP, with bonus lyrics and rare photos. Born to Run hits stores on Sept. 27. The musician participated in an illuminating interview on CBS Sunday Morning on Sept. 18 to help promote the new releases, in which he opened up about his drive, his father, and his bouts with depression. "I'm conditioned to do it from many, many years of experience," he said of his recent marathon performances in East Rutherford, N.J., and Philadelphia. "Don't try it at home, kids." - Rolling Stone/Billboard, 9/22/16...... A previously-unreleased David Bowie album called The Gouster is included in the just released Bowie box set Who Can I Be Now? 1974-76, and The Gouster can currently be streamed in its entirety on Spotify.com. The 7-track The Gouster was recorded by Bowie in 1974, and served as the basis for material that would make up his 1975 studio album, Young Americans. Meanwhile, a digitally restored 40th anniversary version of the 1976 Bowie cult sci-fi film The Man Who Fell to Earth is currently being screened in UK cinemas now. Directed by Nicolas Roeg, the film stars Bowie as Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien who crash lands on Earth. Tony Richmond, the original cinematographer behind the film, says it's "wonderful to see it again.. They did a fabulous job." Studiocanal are releasing the film on DVD and Blu-ray on Oct. 10 with a special collector's edition to follow. The soundtrack will be re-released on Sept. 23. - New Musical Express, 9/23/16...... In other Bowie-related news, a memorial plaque dedicated to the late music icon in Berlin, Germany has been stolen just three weeks after its unveiling. The plaque -- which quoted the late musician's lyrics from his hit 'Heroes': "We can be heroes, just for one day" -- was unveiled by the city's mayor in August at his former home from 1976 to 1978. German media reports that the theft, along with vandalism, took place on Sept. 17 and that police are now investigating the crime. Fortunately, it is also reported that the company that produced the plaque had multiple prints made in the event of damage or theft. - NME, 9/20/16...... The Kinks will release a 10-disc mono vinyl box set, The Mono Collection, on Nov. 18. Containing tracks recorded from 1964 to 1969, the set brings together the British Invasion act's first 8 albums in mono, along with the bonus double Kinks compilation album The Kinks (a.k.a. 'The Black Album'). A hardcover 48-page book including never-before-seen photos and new interviews with Ray Davies, Dave Davies and Mick Avory is also included. The 2016 Kinks-based musical "Sunny Afternoon" which tells the story of the band and includes the title song, "Waterloo Sunset" and "You Really Got Me," among others, has garnered a new generation of fans for the band. - NME, 9/20/16...... A new Elvis Presley limited TV series based on rock critic Dave Marsh's 1982 book Elvis is in the works at Weinstein Television. TWC struck a deal with Presley's estate that grants it the rights to Presley's extensive musical catalog and will also allow the production to be the first ever to shoot in Presley's Graceland mansion. The production also will have access to Elvis' cars, clothes and other items. Presley's ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, will executive produce the eight-to-10 part series with Jerry Schilling, Harvey Weinstein and David Glasser. "I'm a big fan of Harvey Weinstein's independent films," Priscilla Presley said on Sept. 21 in a statement. "I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work with him on this show and tell the story of how Elvis changed the culture of music and initiated a revolution that changed the world." - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/22/16...... The Beatles have earned their 32nd Top 10 LP on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart with their latest release, Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Nielsen Music reports the album moved 36,000 equivalent album units for the week ending Sept. 15. Of that sum, 35,000 were in traditional album sales. Like its 1977 predecessor, The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, the release features songs from the Fab Four's three Hollywood Bowl performances in 1964 and 1965. The 1977 album peaked at No. 2 and eventually fell out of print. Only three other acts -- the Rolling Stones (a record 36), Barbra Streisand (34) and Frank Sinatra (32) -- have scored at least 30 Top 10 albums. Meanwhile, the Beatles' Apple Corps. has just announced DVD release details of the new Ron Howard-directed Beatles touring documentary, Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years. The film will be available on Nov. 18 on DVD and Blu-ray on a single disc, as well as in a two-disc set with extra features and a 64-page booklet. Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years premiered in theaters and on Hulu on Sept. 16. - Billboard, 9/19/16...... In other Beatles-related news, Ringo Starr released a video and a new song called "Now the Time Has Come" on Sept. 2 in celebration of the U.N.'s International Day of Peace. "I worked on this record with peace and love," Starr said. "It was a joy to be part of this project." The song is part of the social media #HugForPeace campaign to promote a day of non-violence through the peaceful act of hugging, and was co-written by Starr and producer Bruce Sugar, with vocals including Starr's All-Starr Band member Richard Page. - Billboard, 9/22/16...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, a custom-made suit of John Lennon's made by the band's tailor, Douglas Millings, is expected to bring as much as $65,000 (£50,000) when it's put up for auction by rrauction.com on Sept. 26 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge. The suit, one of many made by Millings for the band between 1962 and 1966, was later donated by Lennon to Madame Tussauds, with the permission for the waxwork museum to use it on a future exhibit. Also auctioned on the same day will be a signed Beatles postcard -- which includes the rare signature of fill-in Beatles drummer Jimmie Nicol -- and signed receipts by George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Pete Best from the Star Club days. - NME, 9/22/16...... Hours after formally announcing his retirement on Sept. 20, AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams took his final bow as the band wrapped its Rock or Bust World Tour in Philadelphia. Williams capped off a nearly 40-year tenure with the famous Aussie rockers, with founding guitarist Angus Young and stand-in singer Axl Rose giving Williams props during their closing number, For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)." "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Cliff Williams," Rose told the audience at the song's end. Then Young walked his longtime bandmate forward to the front of the stage to take one last bow. Earlier in the day, Williams, 66, announced he would be retiring in a video. "It's time for me to step out, that's all... It's just my time, I'm happy I just need family time, just chill out and not do this," he said. Williams joined AC/DC in 1977 as a replacement to original bassist Mark Evans. - Billboard, 9/21/16...... In a new interview with the British paper The Telegraph,Jimmy Page stated that Led Zeppelin "isn't done yet," and hinted that some new Zeppelin reissues could be on the way. "Led Zeppelin isn't done yet, quite clearly, because every year since 1968 there's been new fans," Page said. "The re-releases have more than doubled the amount of Led Zeppelin work out there. I wanted it done authoritatively, 'cause I was the one writing the stuff, I was the producer and mixer. I don't think it's any more weird than writing your autobiography," he added. Page also commented on why he thinks Led Zeppelin's music still stands today. "It was done with so much freedom and conviction by master musicians, that's why it has traveled over time," he said. "It was an extraordinary connection, the synergy within the band. There was an area of ESP between Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and myself." Page's interview comes on the heels of the newly-expanded Zeppelin album The Complete BBC Sessions, which was released on Sept. 16. - New Musical Express, 9/20/16...... Neil Young has released a new video for his song "Indian Givers," which includes footage from the protests surrounding the construction of the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline. Young is also seen singing in his car during the video, with lyrics stating: "There's a battle raging on the sacred land/Our brothers and sisters have to take a stand/Against us now for what we all been doing/On the sacred land there's a battle brewing." In 2014, Young advocated against the Keystone XL pipeline with the song "Who's Gonna Stand Up?" on his Storytone album. He also hooked up with Willie Nelson that year for a concert in Nebraska against the expansion. - NME, 9/20/16...... A Prince tribute concert set for Oct. 13 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., has sold out immediately after tickets went on sale on Sept. 19. With tickets ranging from $19.99 to $152.50, the gig will be headlined by Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Chaka Khan, John Mayer and Tori Kelly, among others. - AP, 9/19/16...... Magnolia Pictures will release Danny Says, a documentary that chronicles the life of rock and roll music industry exec Danny Fields who was responsible for managing such acts as Iggy and the Stooges, MC5 and the Ramones, on Sept. 30. Fields, an incredibly influential force in the music industry, also collaborated with the likes of Alice Cooper, The Doors and Lou Reed, among others, and in the film Alice Cooper says "Danny was in the middle of it all... guys like Danny are always sort of in the wings, but they're always the most effective people." Named after the Ramones song, Danny Says will arrive in theaters, On Demand, iTunes and Amazon Video on Sept. 30. - Billboard, 9/22/16...... Singer/songwriter John Prine releases a new album, For Better or Worse, on Sept. 30, a sequel of sorts to his 1999 Grammy-nominated duets disc In Spite Of Ourselves. The first single, "Fifteen Years Ago," is a cover of a No. 1 country hit in 1970 for Conway Twitty. "It's a really good story song, which I've always been a sucker for," Prine says. Prine's collaborator on the track is country singer Lee Ann Womack, and Prine says "getting her to do it made it all the better, because her voice is just pure country." Meanwhile, Prine, Tom Waits and Tom Waits' wife Kathleen Brennan will be honored for their songwriting at The Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Awards on Sept. 26 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The award has been bestowed biennially since 2012 by the New England chapter of the writer's group PEN. Organizers say the award is typically given to artists who have contributed definitive works to the American music canon. Elvis Costello will be the master of ceremonies at this year's event. - Billboard/AP, 9/19/16...... Rights for the Rolling Stones concert documentary Ole! Ole! Ole!: A Trip Across Latin America have been obtained by the subscription VOD platform CraveTV. As part of the deal, CraveTV also acquired the Stones' companion concert film, The Rolling Stones Havana Moon, a film based on the mega group's Havana show. CraveTV will stream Ole! Ole! Ole! from Oct. 14, with Havana Moon to follow with a Jan. 2017 launch. Meanwhile, Keith Richards has confirmed to Rolling Stone that the Stones are deep into making their first album since 2005's A Bigger Bang. "It was fun -- always is!" he says, describing a recent London session where they cut several songs in only two days. Richards has said the album will have "a lot of Chicago blues," including material by Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf. Eric Clapton even played on a couple of songs, which Richards said felt "like old times down in Richmond [London]," where both acts played the Crawdaddy Club in the Sixties. - Billboard/Rolling Stone, 9/18/16...... Bob Weir hasn't released a true solo album since 1978, but jamming with the National (who recently released an extensive Grateful Dead tribute album) at Weir's TRI Studios made him want to give his solo career another shot. Members of the National back him on Blue Mountain, out Sept. 30, which revisits his obsession with cowboys (evident in classics like "Mexicali Blues"). Highlights on the album, co-written with Josh Ritter, include "Ki-Yi Bossie," a campfire singalong with Ramblin' Jack Elliott. - Rolling Stone, 9/22/16...... At 71, Van Morrison says he makes records to please one person: himself. "If it's not interesting, then I don't do it," he says. Keep Me Singing, his first LP of new songs in four years, includes a swing intrumental, a tribute to hero Bobby "Blue" Bland, who died in 2013, and "Too Late," a doo-wop tune about making the most of one's limited time ("It's too late to start over again/ Can't complain," Morrison howls). It's the perfect mission statement of a rock star in twilight, though the song was written years ago. "I came across it in a notebook and thought, 'What happened to this one?'" he says. Keep Me Singing drops on Sept. 30. - Rolling Stone, 9/22/16...... A representative for Monty Python star Terry Jones confirmed on Sept. 22 that the actor has been diagnosed with dementia, and is no longer able to give interviews. The 74-year-old British funnyman who, alongside Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, and Graham Chapman formed the iconic surreal comedy group, has been told by doctors he has primary progressive aphasia - a type of dementia affecting the brain's frontal lobe. It was recently announced that Jones would be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the upcoming British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards. Organizers are still hoping Jones will attend the event but it is thought he will be accompanied by a family representative and won't give a speech. - WENN.com, 9/23/16...... Actor Bill Murray of Saturday Night Live and Caddyshack fame has announced a new line of golf clothes. Murray's love of the Chicago Cubs baseball team reportedly served as the major inspiration behind the design of the new line -- despite the fact that the clothes have been designed to be worn on the golf course, rather than at the ballpark. The full line will go on sale on Murray's golf website, William Murray Golf, on Oct. 20. Murray is an avid golfer, often participating in celebrity golf tournaments. - NME, 9/22/16...... Jerry Corbetta, a legendary rock keyboardist best known for fronting the rock quartet Sugarloaf, has died at age 68. Formed in Denver, Sugarloaf charted two Billboard Top 10 hits in the '70s, including the No. 3 "Green-Eyed Lady" in 1970 and the No. 9 "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" in 1975. Before founding Sugarloaf, Corbetta was connected to the Four Seasons for many years...... Actor James Westmoreland, known for appearing in such films as The Young Philadelphians, No Time for Sergeants and The Last Sunset, died on Sept. 14 in a hospital near his home in La Quinta, Calif. He was 80. Mr. Westmoreland also starred on the short-lived ABC Western series The Monroes In 1970, Mr. Westmoreland was married for 47 days to True Grit actress Kim Darby; they had known each other for about three weeks before they exchanged vows. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/22/16...... Director Curtis Hanson, known for helming such films as Eminem's 2002 hip-hop drama 8 Mile as well as Losin' It, The River Wild, Wonder Boys and In Her Shoes, died on Sept. 20 of an apparent heart attack at his Hollywood Hills home. He was 71. Mr. Hanson also had screenwriting credits for such '70s films as The Dunwich Horror (1970), Sweet Kill (1972), The Silent Partner 1978, and The Little Dragons (1979). - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/20/16.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Bruce Springsteen posted a new video of himself reading from his forthcoming book Born to Run on Sept. 13. "Writing prose has its own set of rules," Springsteen says in the clip. "It connects up to your musical rules but you got to create the music without the music. You gotta create momentum purely on the page." Springsteen added that writing a book differs from writing a song in that the songwriter has less time to make his or her point in a few verses. Springsteen received a reported $10 million advance from Simon & Schuster for Born to Run, which is out Sept. 27, and some publishing insiders are questioning whether the book can earn back the hefty advance, which could be the highest payout ever for a music memoir (the publisher declined to confirm the amount). While Keith Richards' bestselling 2010 memoir Life sold one million copies in its first year and earned back much of Richards' reported $7 million advance, Springsteen's book will be more introspective than your typical sex-and-drugs rock memoir: The only drugs he discusses at length are antidepressants. Meanwhile, Springsteen and his E Street Band have announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand which is set to kick off in January. At a Sept. 11 concert in Pittsburgh, the Boss dedicated a song to a fan who gave him a copy of the US constitution amended to mock Donald Trump. "It does say 'F--- Trump' on the front of it. And this next song was his request," Springsteen said. He then played "Long Walk Home" from his 2007 album Magic. - Billboard/NME, 9/13/16...... Hundreds of Rush fans attended a new art park named after Rush singer/bassist Geddy Lee and Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson on Sept. 16 in Toronto, Canada. The fans withstood a driving rainstorm for the official opening of the Lee-Lifeson Art Park, which has a giant likeness of Lee and Lifeson in mosaic tile, and includes a small outdoor stage and amphitheatre for acoustic performances and permanent interactive sculpture installations. The park is located in the Toronto neighborhood of North York where Lee and Lifeson both grew up and formed Rush in 1971. "We're obviously thrilled and amazed that someone would want to do something like this and put our names on it, and we're really happy for the community that there's some investment arts and leisure for this neighborhood," said Lee. "This park will still be here weeks after we're gone," added Lifeson. The idea for the 7000 sq. metre art park originated with Councillor John Fillon in 2012, who also came onstage to say a few words. Toronto mayor John Tory also gave the pair the Key to the City. - Billboard, 9/17/16...... Ozzy Osbourne's family has purchased an auction lot of early Black Sabbath memorabilia that was scheduled to be sold by the Sheffield Auction Gallery to prevent the items from reaching private hands. The gallery had been due to sell the memorabilia from the earliest days of the band, 1968-73, on Sept. 30 with the items expected to fetch as much as £3,000, but a spokesman for the gallery confirmed on Sept. 16 that Ozzy's family pre-empted the auction by buying all the items. Discovered in the 1980s by a Black Sabbath fan living in the Docklands area of East London when his flat was being renovated, the items included postcards sent from on tour to Osbourne's mother Lillian at her home in Birmingham, early publicity photos, tour flyers and posters plus handwritten lyrics for songs including "Changing Phases," which eventually became the song "Solitude" from Black Sabbath's 1971 album Masters Of Reality. The spokesman added that there had been a "huge amount of pre-auction interest" in the items, and did not disclose how much Osbourne's family paid for the items. Black Sabbath continue on their farewell tour, with their final show scheduled in their hometown of Birmingham, UK on Feb. 4. Meanwhile, Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon Osbourne revealed on Sept. 13 during her talk show The View that she had a "complete and utter breakdown" which forced her to take an emergency leave from the show in May 2015. "I woke up in Cedars-Sinai Hospital and for probably three days I knew nothing. "I couldn't think, I couldn't talk, I could do nothing. My brain just shut down on me," admitted Osbourne, 63. At the time, Sharon's doctors reported that she suffered from "extreme exhaustion" and believed she returned to work too soon after being treated earlier in the year for pneumonia. Sharon credited group therapy for helping her mental state because "there were several people suffering with what I was suffering." - New Musical Express/People.com, 9/16/16...... The Who's Pete Townshend has launched a line of guitar replicas modelled on the one which he famously smashed on stage in 1976 during a Who gig at the Boston Garden. Townshend smashed his original Les Paul Gold Top Deluxe before 15,000 fans at the show, with its shattered remnants now on display at London's Victoria & Albert Museum. Guitar manufacturer Gibson is selling just 150 copies of the "Pete Townshend Gold Top '76," inspired by a guitar Townshend regularly played in the 1970s and manufactured using the same vintage techniques. The new model includes a reference to the incident, with a "Break Here" sticker placed on the back of the guitar next to its eighth fret, where Townshend smashed the original. - NME, 9/15/16...... A release date has been confirmed by BMG Music for a new Lou Reed box set of albums recorded by Reed between 1972 and 1982. Lou Reed - The RCA & Arista Album Collection, Vol. 1 will be released on Oct. 7 in the US and Nov. 18 in the UK, after being intitally announced back in May. The set will be comprised of six early Reed albums -- all of which were remasted by Reed himself shortly before his death in 2013 -- and include Transformer (1972), Berlin (1973), Rock n Roll Animal (1974), Coney Island Baby (1975), Street Hassle (1978) and The Blue Mask (1982). All LPs will be housed in sleeves with original artwork, and the collection includes a 30-page book featuring previously unseen photos and memorabilia from Reed's personal archives, as well as added liner notes. "Lou put his heart into remastering these records," his widow Laurie Anderson said in a press release." "They are not smoothed out... They leap out at you with their original energy." - NME, 9/14/16...... As his 1966 album Sunshine Superman celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016, pop legend Donovan performed at Carnegie's Zankel Hall in New York City on Sept. 15. Donovan, 70, revisited some of his less-heralded songs, including the the medieval "Guinevere" to the more modern "Jennifer Juniper." Donovan also shared the story of how he contributed key lyrics to the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" and recalled the time a pre-stoner Graham Nash chided him for smoking weed backstage. "I lived it, and I barely believe it myself," he frequently ended his stories. - Billboard, 9/16/16...... Hip-hop musician Skepta has beaten out David Bowie's Blackstar for the UK's Mercury Prize for his fourth album, Konnichiwa. Skepta beat out competition from London bookies' favourite Bowie, whose final album Blackstar was nominated for a posthumous win, as well as albums from artists including Anohni, Radiohead and Savages. Musician Jarvis Cocker, who was among this year's judging panel, said that Bowie would have approved of panel's decision. "We as a jury decided that if David Bowie was looking down on the Hammersmith Apollo tonight if he would want the 2016 prize to go to Skepta," he told the audience during the Mercury Prize ceremony at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on Sept. 15. Established in 1992 and open to acts from Britain and Ireland, the Mercury Prize often favors the eclectic and obscure over better-known performers. In other Bowie-related news, Bowie's son Duncan Jones has confirmed on Twitter that there is no truth to recent reports that his dad's ashes were scattered at the The Temple of Black Rock City in Nevada during the week-long Burning Man gathering earlier in September. "That Burning Man thing? What people will do & say for attention never ceases to amaze me. Not true. Kind of a gross claim as well. *sigh*" Jones wrote. "...We all know if dad DID want his ashes scattered in front of strangers, it would be at the Skegness Butlins. ;)," he added. Bowie's estate has also confirmed that the Burning Man report, in which Bowie's godchild had been granted permission from Bowie's widow Inman had granted permission for a portion of Bowie's ashes to be scattered during the event, was false. - NME, 9/12/16...... Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr attended the world premiere of director Ron Howard's new Beatles documentary Eight Days a Week. in London on Sept. 15. A day earlier, McCartney, Starr and Howard participated in a live Facebook chat, with McCartney saying "In the cinema, we're going to be able to hear ourselves. We couldn't hear ourselves when we were live. So much screaming going on." McCartney added that Howard was a natural choice as the film's director. "Ron was going to do it because we loved his work as a Hollywood director. And we liked him as Richie in Happy Days as well." Among the revelations in the film are that John Lennon's apology for his "Beatles are Greater than Jesus" remark "made him sort of a broken man" and that the Beatles refused to play to segregated audiences. Meanwhile, a lawsuit has emerged over footage from the Beatles' 1965 Shea Stadium concert that is used in the film. On Sept. 12, Sid Bernstein Presents, LLC -- a company representing the late businessman who promoted the group's 1965 concert at New York's Shea Stadium -- filed lawsuit against two Beatles-related companies, Apple Corps Ltd. and Subafilms Limited. The lawsuit contends Sid Bernstein Presents is the rightful owner of the Shea Stadium footage, and claims infringement also occurred two decades ago when the Shea Stadium footage appeared in the 1995 docu-series The Beatles Anthology. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, says Bernstein, who died in 2013 at 95, produced the concert and hired the Beatles and the supporting acts to perform. - Billboard, 9/15/16...... Sting has made his first appearance in 12 years on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs radio airplay chart with "I Can't Stop Thinking About You," the lead single from his Nov. 11 album 57th & 9th. The song debuted at No. 19 on the chart for the week ending Sept. 24, making it the former Police frontman's first entry on that chart since his 2004 song "Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing)," which bowed at No. 19. 57th & 9th is Sting's first rock-focused set since 2003's Sacred Love. - Billboard, 9/16/16...... Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Iggy Pop, Yoko Ono and Ringo Starr are among 175 artists who have joined "We Are Not Afraid," a global campaign aimed at raising funds for the refugee crisis and victims of religious and political violence. "We Are Not Afraid" takes its name from a song by Nigerian singer Majek Fashek, and its video is directed by former 10cc member Kevin Godley and features Richards, Plant, Pop, Ono and Starr as well as Debbie Harry and Buddy Guy It will be released on Sept. 29. Proceeds from the single will be donated to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC). - New Musical Express, 9/14/16...... Stevie Wonder has been added to the lineup of a Prince tribute show which is set for St. Paul, Minn., on Oct. 13. Prince's family and organizers have announced the event will be held at the smaller Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, after previously planning to hold it at the new NFL stadium in Prince's hometown of Minneapolis. The lineup also includes Christina Aguilera, Chaka Khan, John Mayer, Tori Kelly, Anita Baker, Doug E. Fresh, Luke James, Bilal and Mint Condition. Prince's inner circle will be represented by Morris Day & The Time, Judith Hill and Liv Warfield along with Prince's New Power Generation, led by Morris Hayes. Meanwhile, Prince's ex-wife Mayte Garcia has announced she will release an "intmate" memoir of her life with Prince called The Most Beautiful: My Life With Prince on Apr. 14, 2017, the one-year anniversary of Prince's death. - AP/Billboard, 9/15/16...... Songwriter Alan Cole filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in Pennsylvania federal court on Sept. 15 against late reggae legend Bob Marley's record company Tuff Gong Music. Cole claims he co-authored Marley's songs "War" and "Natty Dread," but just recently discovered he doesn't own the copyrights. In May, Cole hired a lawyer to help him transfer one half of his interest in "War" to the family of former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. That lawyer discovered Tuff Gong Music holds the copyright as the "employer for hire." "[Cole] was led to believe that the songs were being copyrighted for him by the record company," states the complaint. "[Cole] was never employed by Tuff Gong Music." Cole is suing Tuff Gong and the Island Def Jam Group, a division of Universal Music and successor in interest to the copyright, and is asking the court to declare that the label infringed on his copyrights. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/16/16...... Stevie Nicks performed Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" during the Sept. 14 episode of the TV series America's Got Talent. Grace VanderWaal, a 12-year-old finalist on the show, brought Nicks onstage after her performance, introducing her as "a true hero of inspiration." Nicks sang "Landslide" and told host Nick Cannon that young VanderWaal "has a bright future." - Billboard, 9/14/16...... A two-night tribute to Tom Petty dubbed Petty Fest was held at Hollywood's Fonda Theatre on Sept. 13 and 14. Described as a "40th anniversary celebration of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, performers included Norah Jones and comedian/actress Kristen Wiig, who dueted on Petty's pot-smoking-introvert anthem "You Don't Know How It Feels" and the more contemplative "Time to Move On." Jakob Dylan and Dhani Harrison reprised their fathers' roles in the Traveling Wilburys on "End of the Line," and the 30-song set was capped off with all the musicians covering Petty's "Free Fallin'." - Billboard, 9/14/16...... It has been revealed that guitarist Rick Parfitt of the British hard rock band Status Quo was declared clinically dead for several minutes when he suffered a heart attack after a gig in Turkey in June. Parfitt suffered a heart attack following the band's show at Expo 2016 in Antalya, Turkey, leading to him pulling out of the band's concerts for the rest of the year. Status Quo's manager Simon Porter says Parfitt is expected to make a full recovery, but might not be able to tour again as he wants to make his eight-year-old twin children Tommy and Lily his priority. "Rick may well have performed his last show with Quo, but no final decision will be made until next year. Regardless, it is his wish that the band continue to tour as planned and he will always be a part of Quo's numerous other off stage activities," Porter said. The collapse in June was Parfitt's fourth heart attack, after he had undergone a quadruple bypass following his first heart attack in 1997. Status Quo are continuing to tour with guest guitarists, and begin an 11-city UK tour on Dec. 8 in Nottingham. - NME, 9/15/16...... Brian Eno has launched a new interactive website to accompany his 2016 album The Ship. Eno describes the site as an "generative film" which explores the themes and music of the album, released in April on Warp Records. The project attempts to answer the question: "Does the machine intelligence produce a point of view independent of its makers or its viewers? Or are we -- human and machine -- ultimately co-creating new and unexpected meanings?" - NME, 9/15/16...... Actor James Stacy, best known for starring in the TV Western Laramie, died on Sept. 15 in Ventura, Calif. He was 79. Stacy's turbulent life included being married to actresses Connie Stevens and Kim Darby, becoming a double amputee after a motorcycle accident, and serving prison time for child molestation. Stacy's other TV credits included The Donna Reed Show, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Bonanza, Gunsmoke and Wiseguy. He also appeared as a wounded Vietnam vet in the film Just a Little Inconvenience opposite Barbara Hershey, hoping to encourage other amputees and persons with disabilities to fulfill their goals of living a full life. He was also nominated for an Emmy for a guest appearance on Cagney & Lacey. - Variety.com, 9/16/16.

Yusuf/Cat Stevens kicked off his 50th anniversary A Cat's Attic acoustic tour in Toronto, Canada on Sept. 12 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Yusuf, 68, appeared onstage in front of a backdrop depicting a moonlit skyline with London's Big Ben, the locale of many of the autobiographical songs he performed. He played more than 30 songs from his career, beginning with "Where Do the Children Play?" from 1970's Tea for the Tillerman, and "If You Want to Sing Out Sing Out," which first appeared in the 1971 film Harold & Maude. Yusuf skipped the 27 years he got out of the music business -- when he almost drowned, called out to God, and began his conversion to Islam and lifelong service to education and humanitarianism -- and suggested to learn more about that you'll have to read his 2014 memoir because "it's too long a story." A portion of ticket sales from Yusuf's tour, which continues for 11 more dates and celebrates the 50 years since his first hit "I Love My Dog," will be donated to UNICEF and International Rescue Committee to help child refugees through his charity Small Kindness. - Billboard, 9/13/16...... Queen played Israel for the first time in 40 years in Tel Aviv on Sept. 12, longer than current Queen touring vocalist Adam Lambert has been alive. Wearing a skintight leather getup and Robocop sunglasses, Lambert stood at the fore alongside his much older bandmates, founding guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Queen opened with the galloping "Seven Seas of Rhye," also including "Fat Bottom Girls," "Don't Stop Me Now," "Love of My Life," "Another One Bites the Dust" and "I Want it All" in the setlist. The band encored with "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" as confetti showered down. - Billboard, 9/13/16...... Former Michael Jackson choreographer Wade Robson has added new negligence claims against two companies formerly controlled by Jackson that he says fostered nearly a decade of sexual abuse. In the graphic new complaint filed on Sept. 12, Robson claims Jackson first sexually assaulted him when he was seven years old when his family was invited to stay at Neverland Ranch, where he slept in Jackson's bed while his family stayed in separate guest quarters. He describes sexual encounters ranging from French kissing to penetrative sex, and claims the abuse continued until he was 14, but became less frequent when he "began showing signs of puberty" and Jackson was "no longer as interested in him sexually." In July, Robson hired attorney Vince Finaldi to represent him in his trial against the Jackson estate, which is scheduled to get underway in March 2017. Finaldi seeks to add several negligence claims to the suit, arguing the MJJ companies "breached their duty to take reasonable protective measures to protect minor children in their charge." - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/13/16...... Stevie Nicks announced on Sept. 13 that she's planning to add a tribute to Prince to her upcoming 24K Gold Tour by performing their collaboration "Stand Back." Nicks says her 1983 hit single was inspired by her hearing Prince's "Little Red Corvette" on the radio during her honeymoon with Kim Anderson. Nicks said when she entered the studio to record the demo for "Stand Back," she called Prince and told him the story of how she wrote the song. Prince then came down to the studio and played synthesisers on the track, although he was initially uncredited. The two never performed the song together on-stage and Nicks previously said she was "heartbroken" that she missed the opportunity to do so when Prince died in April. Nicks also admitted the two disagreed on drug use, saying Prince "hated that I did drugs and that's probably why we didn't hang out more." Nicks will kick off her tour behind her 2014 album 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault on Oct. 25 with opening act the Pretenders. - New Musical Express/AP, 9/13/16...... Jeff Lynne's ELO peformed three shows with an orchestra at the legendary Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles over the second weekend in September. The three Hollywood Bowl shows constitute three-fifths of ELO's entire American tour, with the final two dates to follow at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Sept. 16 and 18. The 18-song setlist is essentially the same as what Lynne has been doing overseas without symphonic accompaniment, focusing mainly on the run of hits that began in America with "Can't Get It Out of My Head" in 1974. - Billboard, 9/11/16...... Appearing on the Fox News program Fox & Friends on Sept. 12, Wayne Newton said he agrees with those who are not pleased with the current protest by NFL players who are not standing for the playing of the national athem, and said they can "get the hell out" of the country if they are that unhappy. "I think every American has the right to do or say whatever freedom offers us. However, during a national anthem is not a time or a place to show that kind of thing," the iconic Las Vegas performer and "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" singer said. "I have no tolerance at all for it." San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick made headlines after he didn't stand for the national anthem during preseason games. Kaepernick told reporters it was his way of protesting the injustice against minorities, stemming from more videos surfacing of unarmed African-American men being shot by white police officers. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/13/16...... Jimmy Page has joined the lineup of guests for the new BBC2 series Later With Jools Holland. The Led Zeppelin guitarist will appear on the first episode, which also features Sting, Kings of Leon, Jack White, M83 and Banks. Page won't be performing on the show, instead he will discuss the newly-expanded Zeppelin album The Complete BBC Sessions, which drops. Sept. 16. The new season of Later With Jools Holland will be broadcast on BBC2 on Sept. 13 with a half-hour live segment, before the full hour-long pre-recorded version debuts on Sept. 16. - New Musical Expresss, 9/8/16...... Bruce Springsteen will once again be among the headliners for the upcoming Stand Up for Heroes benefit show at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 1, as he has done every year since the charity series began 10 years ago. Presented by the Bob Woodruff Foundation and the New York Comedy Festival, Stand Up for Heroes mixes music, comedy and an auction, and raises funds to support injured service members and their families. Also on the bill for this year's edition are comedians Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, Jim Gaffigan and Louis C.K.. The 2015 edition featuring Jon Stewart, Ray Romano and Seth Meyers raised $6.1 million and was the most successful year yet. - Billboard, 9/12/16...... In other Springsteen news, the Boss has announced he'll embark on a national book tour promoting his forthcoming biography, Born to Run, on Sept. 27 at the Barnes & Noble in Freehold, N.J. Springsteen will also visit various book stores and libraries in New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., San Francisco and New York City before concluding in Boston at the Harvard Coop on Oct. 10. Born to Run drops on Sept. 27, and a companion album, Born to Run: Chapter and Verse, is due out on Sept. 23. - Billboard, 9/12/16...... ZZ Top released a new live album, Live: Greatest Hits from Around the World, on Sept. 9, a collection that features concert cuts from 13 cities on three continents. "I can't remember who came up with the different cities on different tours [idea] for different songs, but we thought that was kind of a tasty idea, so here it is," says ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill. Hill adds that "playing live is the essence of what what we do." "I love recording and I love everything -- videos, everything like that -- but playing live is what does it for me. If we're off the road too long I start bugging all my friends; I've gotta find somebody to play for. So this was a fun project for me," Hill said. Hill adds the band is currently working on a ZZ Top documentary, with no release date yet determined. The group is also planning to release a new studio album to follow up 2012's Rick Rubin co-produced La Futura. - Billboard, 9/12/16...... The final recordings by David Bowie will be featured on a 2-disc release of cast recordings from the Bowie-inspired and created musical "Lazarus." Due Oct. 21, the first disc will include the New York cast versions of 18 Bowie songs -- all of which were recorded on Jan. 11, just hours after the icon died the previous night. The second disc will include Bowie's final studio recordings in the form of three previously unreleased songs -- "No Plan," "Killing A Little Time," and "When I Met You." Meanwhile, there are reports that Bowie's ashes have been scattered at The Temple of Black Rock City, the temporary community set up in Black Rock Desert for Burning Man in Nevada. According to sources close to Bowie, the late rock icon and his godchild "had long talks about Burning Man and what it stands for, and David loved the message behind it." Bowie was purportedly commemorated by 70 people at The Temple of Black Rock City, which was put up for attendees to pay respects to their loved ones and at the end of the week is burned to the ground. In more Bowie-related news, his widow Iman made her first public appearance since her husband's death in January on Sept. 7 at designer Tom Ford's New York Fashion Week show. Iman posted a picture of herself getting ready on Instagram with the caption "My first night out attending an event since last year!" The musician and Iman were married from 1992 until his death. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 9/12/16...... Taking the stage at the "LGBT for Hillary Clinton" event in New York on Sept. 9, Barbra Streisand sang rewritten lyrics for the Stephen Sondheim ballad "Send in the Clowns" to zing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. "Is he that rich? Maybe he's poor," Streisand sang. "Something's amiss, I don't approve. If he were running the free world, where would we move?" Streisand also praised Clinton, her longtime pal. "Hillary's kind, smart, that is clear," Streisand continued. "While she is giving us hope, Trump is selling us fear!" Later in the song, she blasted Trump as a "sad, vulgar clown." The tune was part of Streisand's intimate, seven-song set at the event, which was held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. In other Streisand news, the diva has been tapped to chair the New World Trade Center Arts Center in New York. Streisand will serve as board chair of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center that will be dedicated to producing new works and serving as a public space, officials announced on Sept. 9. Located between One World Trade Center and the memorial plaza, the cube-shaped center will aim to both commemorate the Sept. 11 tragedy and reflect the vitality of New York City. The center also will be home to the Tribeca Film Festival. - The Huffington Post/AP, 9/11/16...... A musical based on the life and music of '70s disco queen Donna Summer is in the works. The project is being brought to Broadway by some of the talent behind hit shows like "Jersey Boys" and "Hamilton." A workshop of early parts of the show was staged in New York recently, with the part of Summer played by Ariana DeBose, who has previously appeared in both "Hamilton" and Broadway musical "Motown." Two more actors will portray Summer at different stages of her life: through childhood, superstardom during disco's heyday and in her later years. Summer, who was born in Boston in 1948, died in Naples, Florida in 2012 of lung cancer at age 63. - NME, 9/8/16...... In related news, Summer's producer Giorgio Moroder brought back the days of disco at an "I Feel Love" immersive event in Brooklyn on Sept. 8 and 9. "I grew up on their music and Donna Summer in South Africa," said original Village People cowboy Randy Jones. "It made me gay." Moroder took over the DJ booth at 11:30 p.m. and immediately went into Summer's orgiastic "Love to Love You Baby," followed by her dramatic "MacArthur Park," plus "Take My Breath Away," the 1986 Berlin song Moroder won an Oscar for co-writing. "Disco music is perfect," said Moroder between spins. "It's beautiful. I love it!" - Billboard, 9/10/16...... As a Ron Howard-directed movie about Beatlemania, Eight Days a Week: The Beatles Touring Years, premieres in theaters nationwide on Sept. 16, Howard, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartneyrecently participated in a press conference about the new film. Starr said he first met Howard in the '70s, "when he was a lad and I was a lad." Howard said Starr and Who drummer Keith Moon "wandered onto the Happy Days set... I'm not kidding. Everything stopped and the assistant director tried to keep rehearsal going, but [co-star] Henry Winkler and I said [to the AD], "Get the f-- out of here! We'll catch up later!" Eight Days a Week arrives in 80 theaters for one-night-only sneak peek on Sept. 15, followed by a full-week engagement in 50 theaters starting Sept. 16. A companion album, The Beatles: Live at the Hollywood Bowl, which captures the group's 1964 and 1965 performances at the legendary venue, dropped on Sept. 9. - Billboard, 9/9/16...... Folk-rock legend Donovan will become the third recipient of the John Lennon Real Love Award at the 36th annual John Lennon Tribute Concert to be held on Dec. 2 at Symphony Space in New York City, the event's non-profit sponsor Theatre Within announced on Sept. 8. Donovan, who accompanied the Beatles on a trip to India in 1968 and composed songs there, will perform a set of Beatles songs and his own at the concert and dedicate them to Lennon. Donovan's body of work speaks for itself. It's seminal and beloved by fans and fellow artists," Joe Raiola, executive producer and artistic director of Theatre Within's Annual John Lennon Tribute, says. "Donovan is a beautiful soul who was positively influenced by John," Lennon's widow Yoko Ono said in a statement. "I think it is lovely that Theatre Within is honoring him with the 'John Lennon Real Love Award' and that the Tribute continues to flourish." - Billboard, 9/8/16...... With its shag carpeting, Polynesian flair and indoor waterfall, the "Jungle Room" in Elvis Presley's Graceland den epitomized the kitsch excess of the King's declining years. It was also the unlikely birthplace of his final recordings, showcased in the new RCA/Legacy reissue Way Down in the Jungle. This is a chance to eavesdrop on a troubled icon pulling himself together for a final sprint. Obviously, there's some schlock (his version of Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire"). But when he glides through Johnny Ace's 1954 R&B classic "Pledging My Love," his innate Elvis-ness is as seductive as ever. - Rolling Stone, 9/8/16...... Wayne Kramer of the seminal Detroit-based punk band MC5 was among the headliners at the Prison Reform and the Jail Guitar Doors Benefit in Los Angeles on Sept. 9. "I'm a returned citizen," Kramer says, "I served a federal prison term." In 1974 the Detroit native was part of a drug sting, supposedly the result of his and his bandmates' connections to political activism the White Panther party, by the federal government, which resulted in a four-year prison term. Kramer says the prison term he received for procuring a pound-and-a-half of cocaine for an informant with a briefcase full of of $100 bills would have ended with a life sentence today. Also performing were Shooter Jennings, Marshall Crenshaw, Jill Sobule, Keith Morris and Don Was, among others. - Billboard, 9/9/16...... Rhino Records will reissue a 2-CD remastered version of Bette Midler's classic 1972 Grammy-winning debut album The Divine Miss M on Oct. 21. The special edition includes the remastered album, a bonus disc of singles, outtakes, demos and new liner notes written by Midler. A digital version will also be available, as well as a 1-LP vinyl format with the remastered original album (co-produced by Barry Manilow) and original album artwork. In addition to the top 40 hits "Do You Want to Dance" and "Friends" and the Top 10 hit "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," the second disc has nine additional tracks including the single mixes for "Friends" and "Chapel of Love" and a version of "Do You Want to Dance" mixed by album co-producer Joel Dorn. Midler has been tapped to serve as a mentor on the upcoming 11th season of NBC's The Voice. - Billboard, 9/9/16...... Former Saturday Night Live star Chevy Chase has reportedly entered rehab as an in-patient at Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center in Minnesota -- the same place his longtime pal Robin Williams was treated in 2014. A rep for Chase said the 72-year-old comidean is seeking a "tune-up" for an alcohol-related problem. In the 1980s, Chase checked into the Betty Ford Clinic in California, and Jan. 1995 was convicted of drunk driving in Beverly Hills. Chase is set to appear in two upcoming movies, Dog Years and The Christmas Apprentice, while he and his Vacation co-star Beverly D'Angelo are in talks to play retired characters who have to give up their comfortable lives and raise their grandchildren in a new TV comedy. - WENN.com, 9/6/16...... Ska pioneer and Jamaican music legend Prince Buster died in a Miami hospital on Sept. 8 after suffering a stroke. He was 78. Born Cecil Bustamante Campbell in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1938, Prince Buster became one of the island's most revered musicians, performing and producing popular ska bands in the 1960s including The Vikings and the Folkes Brothers. A prolific musician, he recorded thousands of records, including such hits as "Al Capone," and "Judge Dread." He helped ignite the ska movement in England and later helped carry it into the rocksteady era in the mid-1960s. During a ska revival in the late 1970s, a group of British musicians named their band Madness after one of his hit songs and also covered his song "One Step Beyond" in 1979. Prince Buster couldn't walk after a massive stroke in 2009, but he could still communicate and travel. - AP, 9/9/16.

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Bruce Springsteen played his longest U.S. concert in history in Philadelphia on Sept. 7. At 4 hours and 4 minutes and 34 songs played, the show at Citizens Bank Park surpassed the previous U.S. record set only eight days earlier at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Aug. 30 (a 2012 set in Helsinki, Finland, still holds the world record at 4:06). Springsteen and his E Street Band treated the Philly crowd to an early 10-song set that focused primarily on his first two albums, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, and he also included his Academy Award-winning song, "The Streets of Philadelphia." Meanwhile, as he prepares to release his anxiously awaited autobiography Born to Run on Sept. 27, Springsteen has given a new interview to Vanity Fair magazine, opening up about his complex relationship with his late father, his own struggles with depression, and his next album, which he says is completely finished. - Billboard, 9/8/16......
A huge 26-by-15 foot iron sculpture created by Bob Dylan will be unveiled by the iconic singer/songwriter at the entrance of the new $1.3 billion MGM National Harbor resort casino in Prince's County, Maryland, when the casino opens later in 2016. Titled "Portal," the sculpture will be Dylan's first permanent piece to be displayed in a public space. Dylan reportedly fashioned the sculpture with hand-selected found objects, including farm equipment, kitchen utensils and tools. Creating sculptures out of pieces of iron and other metals has been one of Dylan's hobbies for the past 30 years, but only in 2013, at the Halcyon Gallery in London, did he exhibit his first metalwork, called "Moodswings," publicly. "I've been around iron all my life ever since I was a kid. I was born and raised in iron ore country -- where you could breathe it and smell it every day," Dylan said at the time. "And I've always worked with it in one form or another," he added. - New Musical Express, 9/7/16...... The first three of a planned 11-LP reissue series of all of Yoko Ono's albums will hit stores on Nov. 11 via Secretly Canadian and Chimera Music. Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (1968), Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With Lions (1969), and Plastic Ono Band (1970) will all include bonus tracks and feature the original vinyl packaging with never-before-seen photos. The vinyl was re-mastered from the original tapes by mastering engineer Greg Calbi, who worked with John Lennon, and musician Sean Lennon, her son. The reissue series will also be available, for the first time ever, for digital download. - Billboard, 9/7/16...... A tribute concert to late blues icon B.B. King was held at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sept. 1. "Icon: The Life and Legacy of B.B. King" featured performances from such diverse acts as Slash, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Keb' Mo', Jimmie Vaughan, Joe Bonamassa, Bobby Bland, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. "B.B. gave me inspiration, friendship, advice and the stage," said Joe Bonamassa, who opened for King at the age of 8. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be standing here." Also sharing reflections via video were Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt and Buddy Guy. Proceeds from the event support the Grammy Foundation and Grammy Museum, two charitable organizations of The Recording Academy. - Billboard, 9/2/16...... Meat Loaf's classic 1977 rock opera Bat Out of Hell is being adapted into a musical for the U.K. stage, with previews set to begin on Feb. 17, 2017 at Manchester Opera House. Scripted by Jim Steinman, who also wrote all the songs on the LP, the storyline of "Bat Out of Hell: The Musical" is described in a press release as "a romantic adventure about rebellious youth and passionate love, set against the backdrop of a post-cataclysmic city adrift from the mainland." "Bat Out of Hell: The Musical" coincides with the 40th anniversary of the release of the 1977 album, and is being produced by David Sonenberg, Michael Cohl, Randy Lennox and Tony Smith. After its U.K. run it will eventually play Canada. Bat Out of Hell has been certified as selling 14 million copies in the U.S. by the R.I.A.A., and according to Neilsen Music, has sold an additional 5.2 million units since 1991. Although Meat Loaf is not directly involved in the new production, he praised his longtime collaborator Steinman. "He and I have been friends and worked together for over 40 years so it's incredible for me to see his dream of over 50 years finally come to fruition," Meat Loaf said. The singer's next LP, Braver Than We Are, hits stores in the U.S. on Sept. 16 and Sept. 9 in Europe. All the songs were written by Steinman. - Billboard, 9/6/16...... Queen guitarist Brian May, who is also an astrophysicist, has announced in a new video that an asteroid discovered in 1991 orbiting betwen Mars and Jupiter will be named after his late bandmate, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. "I'm happy to be able to announce that the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center has today designated Asteroid 17473, discovered 1991, in Freddie's name, timed to honor his 70th Birthday," May said. "Henceforth this object will be known as Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury." May says that you "need a pretty decent telescope" to see the heavenly body. "It's just a dot of light but it's a very special dot of light and maybe one day we'll get there," May said. - NME, 9/5/16...... Stevie Nicks announced on Sept. 6 that she'll kick off a new 27-date leg on her 24 Karat Gold Tour on Sept. 25 in Phoenix, Ariz. With opening act the Pretenders, Nicks will also visit Denver (9/27), Houston (9/29) and Dallas (9/30) in September. After taking October off, the tour picks up in Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 2 for shows in major U.S. and Canadian cities before wrapping on Dec. 18 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Meanwhile, in a new interview with the New York TImes, the singer admitted that she regrets doing so many drugs during her career. "Yes, it (doing drugs) was a lot of fun between 1975 and 1990 - until it wasn't," Nicks recalled. "I walk onstage every night now and do a three-hour show with Fleetwood Mac, and I have a great time up there. I wish I had known that I actually had the energy to do this entire set totally sober and get just as excited. On one hand, that makes me feel great and on the other it makes me sad that I ever did my first line of coke," she added. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 9/6/16...... Former Deep Purple singer Glenn Hughes will release his twelfth solo album, Resonate, on Nov. 4 in the U.K. via Frontiers Music Srl. The album dovetails Hughes' UK and European tour with special guests Living Colour, which kicks off in the UK on Nov. 8 in Leamington Spa. Resonate is Hughes' first solo album in over 8 years and features his live solo band members, in addition to his longtime friend and drummer Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers. The new album will be available in two configurations: regular CD and Deluxe Edition including one bonus track and DVD. Vinyl release will be made available via the Frontiers' label partners Soulfood Music. - Noble PR 9/8/16...... Some diehard fans of Michael Jackson are claiming the singer is still alive after spotting what they believe to be the King of Pop in a selfie taken by his daughter, Paris Jackson, in May and posted on Instagram. In the photo, Paris is pictured sitting beside a pile of clothes on the passenger seat next to her. But now, some fans of Jackson maintain the clothes are the late singer in disguise. The rumours surrounding the photo have intensified after Jackson's 19-year-old son Prince Jackson recently wrote a poem in honour of his late father. Its lines include: "To many he is a king/To me a man/All he inspires/To lead a noble cause/Everyone is family, not a fan even while receiving thunderous applause." Jackson died in 2009, when Paris was 11. Taken while Paris was travelling around the Joshua Tree in California, the photo is captioned: "If you give a little love, you get a little love of your own." - NME, 9/5/16...... Barbra Streisand has earned her 11th No. 1 album on the Billbaord Hot 200 album chart with her latest release, Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway. The LP extends the diva's record for the most Billboard No. 1 albums among women artists, and ties her with Bruce Springsteen for the the third-most among all acts. Only the Beatles have more No. 1 albums in the U.S., with a record 19 chart-toppers. Released Aug. 26 through Columbia, Encore is an all-star collaborative affair, and pairs Streisand with a range of actors -- including Anne Hathaway, Daisy Ridley, Jamie Foxx and Melissa McCarthey -- to cover songs from Broadway. - Billboard, 9/4/16...... Country music legend Loretta Lynn has postponed shows after suffering injuries in a fall that will require minor surgery. In a statement posted on her website on Sept. 7, the 84-year-old singer/songwriter's injuries were described as not serious, but her doctors have advised her to stay off the road until she's made a full recovery. Lynn was forced to cancel a Labor Day weekend show at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tenn., and three upcoming shows in September have been postponed. Lynn released her latest album, Full Circle, earlier in 2016, and she continues to tour regularly. - AP, 9/7/16...... Jerry Heller, known for being NWA's original manager and before that a successful tour promoter for such acts as Elton John, The Who and Kraftwerk, passed away at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, Calif. on Sept. 2 after suffering a heart attack. He was 75. In the '60s and '70s, Heller worked as an agent for numerous artists Marvin Gaye, ELO, Journey and Creedence Clearwater Revival, while also promoting the first US tours by Elton John, Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd. Heller later helped to accelerate the rise of NWA and the gangsta-rap movement as the group's original manager, and co-founded the highly influential Ruthless Records with group member Eazy-E. In 2015, Heller filed a defamation lawsuit last year over the way he was portrayed in the hit NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton. He was played by Paul Giamatti in the acclaimed film. In 2006, he published his autobiography, Ruthless: A Memoir, written with Gil Reavill. - NME, 9/3/16...... Veteran actor Hugh O'Brian, best known for starring in the long-running TV western The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, died of natural causes in his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sept. 5. He was 91. The ABC Western The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, in which the exceedingly handsome, muscular O'Brian starred as the title character, ran for 221 episodes from 1955-61. At the time he was one of television's great male sex symbols. In 1957, Mr. O'Brian was nominated for an Emmy for best continuing performance by an actor in a dramatic series for his work on the series. Mr. O'Brian also dedicated a great deal of his life to a charitable effort he created himself in 1958, the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation, a nonprofit youth leadership development program for high schoolers. The organization sponsors 10,000 high school sophomores annually through leadership programs in all 50 states and 20 countries. He is survived by his wife, the former Virginia Barber, whom he married in 2006 at the age of 81. - Variety, 9/5/16...... Outspoken conservative activist Phyllis Schafly, who helped defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and founded the Eagle Forum political group, died on Sept. 5 at her St. Louis home after a battle with cancer. She was 92. Mrs. Schlafly rose to national attention in 1964 with her self-published book, A Choice Not an Echo, that became a manifesto for the far right. It chronicled the history of the Republican National Convention, sold three million copies and helped conservative Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater earn the 1964 GOP nomination. Although she earned master's and law degrees, she once said perhaps her greatest legacy was the ultraconservative Eagle Forum, which she founded in suburban St. Louis in 1972. - AP, 9/5/16.

Former AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has completed his eight months of home detention on threatening-to-kill charges in 2015, and in a new interview with the New Zealand Herald he says his recovery from recent heart attack is more important than returning to AC/DC. "I was just at home walking around at home, and I started feel, well just funny I had a strange pain in my chest," the 62-year-old musician said. "So my housekeeper took me to the hospital, when they hooked me up and did all these tests turned out I had a big heart attack... my artery was all blocked up, and they said I had to stay in and have an operation." After receiving treatment, Rudd is now out of the hospital and says he's "ready to rock." Although Rudd says he isn't exactly yearning to rejoin the band, he's leaving the door open. "If Angus [Young] wanted me to play then that is up to him," Rudd said. "But I don't really want to play with Axl Rose... I don't really rate him," he added. Instead, Rudd says he plans to spend time re-releasing and touring behind his 2014 solo album, Head Job, and teaching a drumming master class at Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. Meanwhile, the Rudd-less version of AC/DC continues its US tour through Sept. 20. - Billboard, 9/1/16...... The first UK home of late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury has been decorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque in the singer's honor. Mercury's parents moved into the terrace house in Feltham, West London when they emigrated to the UK from Zanzibar in 1964. Mercury's sister Kasmira Cooke, who was on hand for the unveiling, said that "Secretly he would have been very proud and pleased too." Queen guitarist Brian May, also in attendance, said: "It was here that I first visited Freddie soon after we had met through a mutual friend. We spent most of the day appreciating and analysing in intimate detail the way that Jimi Hendrix had put his recordings together in the studio -- listening to Hendrix on vinyl played on Freddie's Dansette record player -- which had stereo speakers on opposite sides of the box!" The performer was also hailed by UK Secretary of State for Culture Karen Bradley, who called him a "global icon whose music touched the lives of millions of people around the world." Mercury, who passed away in 1991, would have celebrated his 70th birthday on Sept. 5. - New Musical Express, 9/1/16...... Barbra Streisand has hit the top of the charts in England for the seventh time in her 50-year career with her new duets album Encore - Movie Partners Sing Broadway. The diva previously reached the top in the UK with her A Star Is Born, Greatest Hits Vol . 2, Guilty, Love Songs, The Essential Barbra Streisand and, most recently, Love Is the Answer in 2009. Only Madonna, with 12 chart-toppers, has more UK No. 1 LPs than Streisand. - Billboard, 9/2/16...... The city council of Foxborough, Mass., has voted to extend the city's concert curfew by 15 minutes -- from 11:15 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. -- to accomodate the upcoming Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band show at Gillette Stadium on Sept. 14. A spokesman for the venue said Springsteen, who has been playing 3 1/2 to 4 -hour sets on his current "The River Tour," has played Gillette twice before with no issues. Foxborough is the last stop on the US leg of the tour, which began in January. Meanwhile, Springsteen and the band have played another marathon 4:01 concert in East Rutherford, N.J. on Aug. 30 which should become their longest ever US concert. The 34-song concert shattered records from shows at the same venue on Aug. 23 and Aug. 25. The record for the longest E Street Band show, 4 hours and 6 minutes, was set in 2012 in Helsinki, Finland. At the finale, Springsteen told the crowd that the three-night stand was the most fun the group ever had at the Meadowlands, and he concluded his 9 encores with "Jersey Girls" as the sky ignited with fireworks. - AP/Billboard, 9/2/16...... In more Springsteen-related news, the rocker has shared what he says was the hardest part of writing his autobiography, Born to Run, in a new video on his official website. "The hardest part was the third [part of the] book where you had to write about the present, because it's all people you are living with in your life today," he says. "That was the most challenging part. Stuff that was in the past, [it] just felt like you had a lot of freedom there." Born to Run is due Sept. 27. - Billboard, 9/1/16...... Beach Boys singer Mike Love's upcoming memoir includes detals of the band's brief relationship with cult leader Charles Manson in the late 1960s. Love reportedly writes that Manson and his followers moved in with bandmate Dennis Wilson in 1968, a little more than a year before Manson's cult killed seven people, including actress Sharon Tate. Love recalled one occasion when he was at the house with another Beach Boy, Bruce Johnston, when Manson handed out LSD and was "orchestrating sex partners" for some of his female followers. When Love tried to bow out of the situation Manson, according to Love, told him "you can't leave the group." Love's autobiography, Good VIbrations: My Life as a Beach Boy, is due Oct. 19. - AP, 9/1/16...... Original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has responded to Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne's recent claims that he contacted Ward about joining the band's farewell tour. Posting on Facebook on Sept. 1, Ward said that "Ozzy has never reached out since January 26/27 2012 when he called to see when I would be arriving in the UK to join rehearsals for the 13 CD. Since that last phone call, he has never reached out to me, and I have not reached out to him." Ward's post was in response to a new interview Ozzy did with Rolling Stone magazine, in which he was asked if he'd consider having Ward join the band for their final concerts ever in their hometown of Birmingham in Feb. 2017. "I don't know. Every time I reach out to Bill I get yelled at for something. If something can be worked out, great," Ozzy said. "[Touring drummer] Tommy [Clufetos] is doing a great job I'm sad that Bill never came through," he added. Ward, who left the band in 2012, has cited what he considers to be an unfair contract as a reason to stay away. "The contract was impossible to sign," Ward wrote in the Facebook note. "The group rhetoric of 2012, 2013 and throughout, was fault-finding, condemning and full of dishonest evaluations of me as a person, including my so-called health issues." Ward also said he got a "no" from a Black Sabbath rep in 2015 when he inquired about possibly rejoining for the farewell tour. Black Sabbath is currently on tour in North America as it heads towards its final two concerts in Birmingham on Feb. 2 and 4. In other Black Sabbath news, Ozzy Osbourne has told Rolling Stone that he thinks Adolf Hitler was gay. Ozzy, a World War II expert, believes the infamous dictator was hiding a sexual secret, which may have turned him mad. "I always thought he was gay," Osbourne said. "Back then, being gay was a criminal offense. When he would go to (vacation spot) Berchtesgaden, his cleaners would check to see if there were any stains on his blankets. And there never were any." - Billboard/WENN.com, 9/2/16...... A major Pink Floyd retrospective called "The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains" is set to run at the UK's historic Victoria and Albert Museum in West London's South Kensington district from May 13 to Oct. 1, 2017. Produced with the collaboration of the surviving Pink Floyd members, the retrospective will feature "never-before-seen classic Pink Floyd concert footage" and a "custom-designed laser light show," as well as over 350 artefacts including instruments, music technology, original designs, architectural drawings, handwritten lyrics and psychedelic prints and posters. Previously unseen material and set and construction pieces from stage performances including The Dark Side Of The Moon, The Wall and The Division Bell will also be presented. "It's an impressive and enduring British design story of creative success," said museum diretor Martin Roth. - New Musical Express, 8/31/16...... The Guinness World Records organization has certified Ringo Starr's copy of the Beatles' "White Album" as the "most expensive LP ever sold at auction." The Dec. 2015 sale of Starr's first-edition "White Album" copy with the catalog number 0000001 was sold by Julien's Auctions and went for a whopping $790,000. It had been kept in a vault in perfect condition by Starr for more than 35 years. The LP was sold as part of a three-day auction of items owned by the band's drummer and his wife, Barbara Bach, with proceeds going to his social welfare charity, the Lotus Foundation. The name of the buyer was not disclosed. The previous record holder in the category was an Elvis Presley acetate that sold for $305,000. The 2017 edition of the Guinness records also notes that David Bowie has earned a record for the most simultaneous entries on the UK album charts -- 19 albums in the UK Top 100 -- after his Jan. 2016 death. - Billboard, 9/1/16...... Such rock stars as Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi and Jimmy Buffett performed at an outdoor private fundraiser for Democratic presidential nominee Sec. Hillary Clinton in the Hamptons in Long Island, N.Y., on Aug. 30. McCartney performed "Jet," "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Lady Madonna," also leading Buffett and Bon Jovi in a rendition of "Hey Jude" to close the 75-minute show. "This is the first time I've paid to hear myself sing," McCartney told the crowd. McCartney also danced with Clinton, and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, also was in attendance. - Billboard, 8/31/16...... Several of Prince's closest friends and musical collaborators are planning a tribute to the late rock star. An Oct. 13 at the new U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis will "feature members of the iconic Prince Family," including Morris Day and the Time, Sheila E., The Revolution and New Power Generation, according to a Minnesota State Arts Board newsletter. - AP, 8/31/16...... Guernsey's Auctions of Manhattan has announced it will conduct an auction of several of the late blues-rock great Johnny Winter's guitars, song notebooks and memorabilia on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at the Gibson Brands Showroom in New York. Guernsey reps say the items being put on the block include jewelry, scarves and hats -- "sweat stains and all" -- and "extremely rare" rock and blues posters and vintage photos. The collection is being sold for Winter's family. - AP, 9/1/16...... In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly,Sting says his forthcoming album 57th & 9th was inspired by the "immortal" David Bowie, as well as other recently deceased musicians including Prince, Lemmy Kilmister and actor Alan Rickman. "David Bowie went first, and then Lemmy, and then my friend Alan Rickman died, and then Prince. It all seemed to topple on top of each other. It was a strange time because you think that these people are immortal, but then suddenly they're like the rest of us, they die," Sting said. 57th & 9th, due Nov. 11, will be Sting's first solo album since 2013's The Last Ship. - NME, 8/30/16...... Dean Stuart Wetter, the 65-year-old husband of Heart singer Ann Wilson, has been charged with assault in an alleged attack on two relatives during the group's show in suburban Seattle. Court records reveal that two teens were watching a Heart show from backstage on Aug. 27 when they left to walk around. They were walking past the tour buses when they saw Ann Wilson's new tour bus and wanted to look inside. Wetter reportedly started yelling at the boys after they left the door open and allegedly punched one of them in the back of the head before grabbing him by the throat. When the other boy stepped in, Wetter allegedly also grabbed his throat. Wetter, who married Ann Wilson in 2015, has been charged with two counts of assault by Seattle authorities and is free on $10,000 bail. - AP, 9/1/16.